On 25 May 2000, Roman Milner wrote:

Well, my point is that I don't think you will be able to ignore it. Your boss will give you a product to maintain that includes someone else's perl code - sooner or later. Since it is "part of zope" and you clearly "know zope" you should be able to maintain it.

I'm not talking about maintaining zope itself. I'm talking about maintaining web sites that use zope.

I have some misgivings with this outlook. It sounds like people who seek job security by having expertise with a system that closes out unfamiliar options - whether the options are better or worse. For all of you that love Python, and testify to either leaving perl with great relief or not being willing to learn it in the first place - why don't you trust your judgement? Python *does* offer better a better foundation for persistence, acquisition, general object-oriented applications, etc - you should not be frightened of a level, open zope playing field that admits both python and perl! If you don't feel python is better, just what you prefer, then you should be happy to have the additional power of perl (and it's community) available to you without having to leave your favorite language! It's a win in either case. (And zope will never be an entirely level playing field, because python and C *will* continue to serve as the foundation for Zope. Oleg, your refutation of that has the smell of casting Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt - treating digital creations with some serious and, i think, unwarranted disrespect, if i may say.) I also think these objections are contrary to one of the principle reasons that python itself is so attractive - it's a glue language, after all. It enables people to use facilities from other languages, without having to get their hands dirty with them. I never really learned C - but that doesn't mean i won't use other people's C extensions! Many many people have found Python to be the best way to get acquainted with Java, with jpython - and i wonder how many java folks got turned on to python's advantages, though the ability to use java interactively via jpython. Access to other languages via python isn't a problem, it's a solution - why should it be any different with Zope? Personally, i suspect that it's much less likely that someone will switch from python to perl than the reverse, perhaps a sign of my own python bigotry - but if you're similarly inclined, once again, i think you should appreciate the advantages of this new open door. Ken Manheimer klm@digicool.com